The present invention relates to a microwave cooking oven, and more specifically to an improved excitation system for such an oven which enhances the time averaged uniformity of energy distribution in the cavity.
A continuing problem in the design of microwave oven excitation systems is to eliminate hot and cold spots in the cooking cavity resulting from the non-uniform spatial distribution of energy in the cavity. A number of different approaches to this problem have been disclosed in the prior art. One approach disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,239 to Miller provides an efficient low profile excitation system which effectively provides good time averaged uniformity of energy distribution in the cooking cavity configuration for which it was designed. However, in applying this teaching to a relatively elongated cavity, cooking performance was somewhat degraded.
The present invention is an improvement over the system disclosed in the Miller patent which retains the relative simplicity and low profile, characteristic of the Miller structure, while providing improved cooking performance in an elongated cooking cavity.